By Laksiri Fernando –

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” ~ Nelson Mandela

Apart from Nelson Mandela, there have been many philosophers and social activists who have emphasized the importance of educational reforms for social change and development. Among these were Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, Karl Marx, Mahatma Gandhi, Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein etc. We here however are not going to discuss the whole range of philosophical and world issues.

We are focusing on Sri Lanka and raising some crucial issues in the school and university education. The educational system in Sri Lanka is not a bad system. I have taught in Sri Lanka and Australia with some other countries at the university level. Likewise, my wife did teach in secondary schools in Sri Lanka and Australia. Our experience is that most Sri Lankan students are equal to Australian students intellectually, although their sphere of knowledge is narrower and limited due primarily to lack English knowledge. The students and also the teachers have the same predicament due to the same reason. However, the introduction of English language merely would not resolve the educational crisis.

There are two problematics usually identified in the educational system in general. First, is the funding difficulty. AI Overview says, “Sri Lanka spends one of the smallest shares of its national income on education in the entire world, leaving schools and universities with severe shortages.”  Even figures are given in the AI Overview. However, this article does not directly address this problem.

Second, is the mismatch between the educational and student products from schools and universities and the requirements of the economy and the country. Again, the AI Overview says the following on the problem. “Sri Lanka faces a severe mismatch between its educational system and its economy, resulting in high youth unemployment and a shortage of job-ready graduates.” This is something that this article is trying to address, but not through a description of the problem, but making some ‘radical and rational proposals.’

School Education

If we first focus on the school education, one radical change that I can propose is to reduce the school years to 12, from 13. While most countries still have this traditional 13-year schooling system, there are some countries including Germany who have experimented the 12-year school system. Although still there are debates on the merits and demerits of these changes, for a developing country like Sri Lanka the benefits would be more and immense.

The world has seen the reduction of age for voting, legal adulthood, and marriage from 21 to 18 in almost all countries since 1970s. The main reason for this change has been the enlarging maturity of youth. But this change has not been taken into consideration in education unfortunately.

In the case of education, the possibilities of rapid or increased development have enlarged more than any other field. One reason for this possibility has been the development of IT (information technology) and AI (artificial intelligence). The reduction of school years also can give students more motivation and confidence. Even in my case (in early 1960s), I would have preferred to enter the university before the age of 18. The country and any government should keep the confidence/trust on the youth. Youth should be encouraged and motivated to do better.   

There is however another need in Sri Lanka to protect children from abusive social media and internet. Like in Australia, there can be a ‘ban’ on social media for children under the age of 16. This is a task mainly for the parents. It has to be also understood that social media provides important information for children’s knowledge and development. Therefore, it is a task for the parents and particularly teachers to gather this positive information and provide them to the children.  The schools should utilize this opportunity.        

The reduction of school years also will make some financial ‘savings’ in the educational system. Even the families will benefit from these changes in economic and social terms. The spending on education in Sri Lanka is one of the lowest in the world, without exceeding 2% of the GDP. In the 2026 budget, the allocation for schools was around Rs 160 billion. The Ministry should not reduce the school budget in the case of the implementation of this proposal, but allocate the budget rationally to benefit the school system better than the present.     

The reduction of school years can be at the primary education, reducing it from 5 to 4, although this can affect the present grade 5 scholarship examination. It should not be at grade 4. Even at present the scholarship selections do not work well given that majority of students are not mature enough to pass the examination. According to the recent results (September 2026), while 289,867 students sat for the examination, only 56,000 students got qualified for the scholarships.

Sri Lanka should have a better system, more students getting qualified for the scholarships. The way to do it is to have the examinations at Grade 8. By this time more and more students will be mature enough to sit for and get qualified enough for a competitive scholarship examination. If the student number sitting for the examination is around 300,000, at least 200,000 students should be able to receive scholarships. This would be a relief and assistance to parents, while students are motivated to study further and better.   

From the primary education, Sinhala, Tamil and English language education should be introduced utilizing the information technology.  Switzerland can be an example. In Switzerland, in addition to the official language in a specific Canton, English and another language (French, German or Italian) is introduced at the primary education.

While mathematics should be the primary skill that the primary school children should acquire, they also should be allowed to involve in sports and arts (music, dancing, painting etc). They also could be taught the country’s history within the context of world history. This article, however, does not go into the details of the curricula.

If the primary education is properly done, the students will be able to, ‘take-off’ during the period of junior secondary period (Grade 5-8). The teaching in this period should focus more on Mathematics, Science, English and Global Knowledge. The medium of instructions could be Sinhala or Tamil. However, the schools should give a prominent place to English.

The education for G.C.E. (Ordinary Level) examination could be two years as at present. However, English should be a compulsory subject for the examination, whether students pass or fail. English should be considered not as a ‘colonial inheritance,’ but a Lingua Franca. This means an international language. Every school also should select another (one) international language like Hindi, Chinese, Japanese, French, German etc. for the secondary level students to learn during the first year.

The main promotion of students for G.C.E. (Advanced Level) should be for sciences. Arts mean singing, dancing, poetry, painting etc. Sociology, Political Science, History, Finance and Management are not Arts. They are social sciences. This change of understanding and naming also should be in the university system. Even with this change of understanding and promotion, the main focus at the advance level should be on natural sciences. The country should produce scientists, technologists and skilled workers to develop and build up the country. The artists would emerge naturally also with the support of a changed school system.      

In Universities

Radical changes are necessary not only in the school system, but also in the universities and university education. Every year, while around 160,000 students qualify for admissions to universities, the average intake is around 40,000. Although this is an improvement from the past, still the existing capacities in universities are not properly utilized. I am talking about the public universities only.

In all 17 universities, the average student number altogether throughout years has been around 130,000. This means one university averagely cater to only around 7,600. Of course, there are some universities cater, may be to the double of this number. However, overall capacities in universities are not properly utilized. Universities at least should cater to 50,000 students individually and annually. One way of doing this is to have two sessions per day, and this means some students are enrolled for evening classes. This might not be possible or appropriate in some remote areas. However, this can be done in Colombo and other urban areas.

I have seen evening universities in Hong Kong, Japan and even Australia. This will allow some students to work in the morning and attend classes in the evening. Of course, this should not be done in the whole week, but some days during the week and at least on Saturdays during the weekend. Although the Open University and Colombo University are already running courses in this direction, this can be expanded to cater to more students. If I am not mistaken, the Colombo University evening courses are limited to postgraduate studies.

University education should be completely in English. If some students are incapable in doing so, they should be given the beginning year to learn English. English should not be considered a British or colonial language. It is the past and not the present. As I stated earlier, English is a lingua franca, a common international language.

Another problematic in the university education is the imbalance between Arts and Sciences. In the first place, the universities should not call the social sciences, Arts. The names of the present faculties should be changed. If there are departments catering to music, singing, dancing, and paintings etc, those can be under a Faculty of Arts. But economics, political science, sociology, and even history should be under a Faculty of Social Sciences.

This is not merely a name change. Those subjects should be learned, taught and researched as ‘sciences’ to mean social sciences. There is a new trend to create faculties of management. That is a good trend which should be strengthened further.

When you consider the present university entrance or advanced level examinations, there are overwhelmingly ‘arts’ students. This has been a vicious cycle. Those who enter universities as arts students, graduate as arts graduates, and go and teach arts subjects and produce overwhelmingly arts students. It would take some time to change this trend. What should be done in the meanwhile in universities is to enrol these students for subjects like health care, nursing, tourism, business, and produce them for employment opportunities.   

Conclusion    

Sri Lanka’s educational system is not a bad system although there are some weaknesses to rectify and opportunities to promote. The above are some initial ideas with the readiness to accept criticisms and/or different views. However, the reduction of the school years to 12, instead of 13, does appear a must not only in Sri Lanka but also in other countries. Sri Lanka can take a pioneering initiative, exemplary to other countries. There can be an initiative to propose and discuss this matter with the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and other relevant organizations and countries.

In summary, the proposals in this article are as follows:

1. To reduce the number of school years from 13 to 12.

2. Introduce English as an international language (lingua franca), in addition to Sinhala and Tamil from the primary school years.

3. Promote Scientific Studies in schools instead of what has been mistakenly called Arts.

4. Make English as the medium of instructions in all universities allowing the disadvantaged students to obtain special assistance.

5. Increase the number of university admissions exponentially to suit the country’s requirements.

6. Promote universities to conduct evening sessions allowing students to work and study.

7. Rename the so-called Arts Faculties into Social Sciences and limit the Arts to music, singing, dancing, painting etc.